


Freeze

by Wrathofscribbles



Series: FFXV fictober 2019 [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-16 23:42:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21044723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wrathofscribbles/pseuds/Wrathofscribbles
Summary: "The King of Light inflicts the touch of Scourge.  He is weak, corrupt, and his life is forfeit!"





	Freeze

**Author's Note:**

> **Big bold reminder that Final Fantasy XV and all of its content is property of Square Enix.** I just like to play in the sandpit they've created for the fans.
> 
> So daemon!Noct will become a series of sorts. This oneshot is related to "[mindless](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21020333)", though takes place at a later date. Also inspired by MysteriousBean’s art, [right here.](https://mysteriousbean5.tumblr.com/post/188135113966/inktober-day-4-frozen-im-not-too-happy-with-this)  
Yes, I skipped "bait", but I'm working on that one and combining it with a soulmate prompt I want to take my time with, shh.

She'd known the risk the moment she realised the Accursed walked the streets of Altissia with Noctis already housed in the city. She'd known introducing them could flip the prophecy on its head and doom them all to certain death, the world to a hastened end, but a gamble isn't a gamble _without _the potential of everything going to hell.

Still, she hadn't expected the Scourge to _change hosts_, or for Noct's screams to rouse the Tidemother in such a fury, or for Ardyn to be rendered utterly useless by the sudden departure of the daemonic influence plaguing him for millennia. As much as she wishes otherwise, she is only an Oracle and her power only stretches so far, barrier magic flickering wildly with every water asp Leviathan hurls at her, slowly but surely pushing her back until she has no _choice_ but to stand her ground. Plant her feet and jam the Trident as far into the ground as she can and brace with it, or stumble beyond where Noctis has fallen and leave him to a vengeful Astral's notable _lack _of mercy.

Another lashing, and a spray of brine hits her in the face. Only the Chosen can stand against a god and it isn't her, but she has to try. She _has to_. At least until the others reach them and pull Noctis to safety. If she can just buy them some _time._

"Leviathan!"

_"The King of Light inflicts the touch of Scourge. He is weak, corrupt, and his life is forfeit! You dare defend him? You will **die with him!"**_

"If you kill Noctis now you _will _doom us all! He might yet succeed!"

_"You think I care for humanity? The little insects scuttling around on their islands and poisoning my waters? Your festering rot will leave this world one way or another and I care not for when it happens!"_

There's no asps this time, but Leviathan herself, and as Luna blinks water from her eyes and swipes a hand across her face there she is, a great shadow cast over them, looming from the waters toiling 'round her, reacting to her, jaws gaping wide with wicked teeth of ivory and death. A shriek of protest through Luna's bones when Leviathan _strikes_ and those teeth come down on her barrier, agony lancing through her skull as her magic buckles, weakens, _whines_ in her blood even as she sets her jaw and locks her knees and _fights_. She must hold. She _must_. She cannot falter now.

"You will not hurt him, I won't allow it!"

_"You cannot stop me, o Oracle of Prophecy and Ruin."_

A whip on her arm, white-hot blaze across her nerves, so much _pressure _demanding she kneel, _submit_, grinding down against the armour plating her magic forms as Levithan tightens her jaws, breath rancid and _wet_ settling on her as foul as any Malboro's. She closes her eyes, hunkers down, and _holds_. She will not break, she _will not_, Leviathan will have to fight for every inch.

_Tend to Noctis_, a whisper in her mind, one she has not heard since she was a child, tearing a gasp from her throat and she dares a glance, just one -

Gentiana, in the eye of Leviathan's storm, a gentle breeze playing with hair and clothes alike as she lifts her arm, fingers splaying wide as frost dashes across the skin Luna can see, ice crystals forming and Luna shivers in the bitter cold overtaking the air.

_Begone, Tidemother. Your rage is not welcome here._

_"You -!"_

Gentiana's hand closes in a fist and Leviathan shrieks in outrage, a ghastly sound no mortal should hear, rearing back and tearing Luna's magic asunder as she does. No protection left, not a single shred of the barrier left standing, _they're defenceless _except for the spectre of Shiva before them now, advancing as Leviathan retreats, gracefully stepping over Noctis and Luna tucks down beside him, gathers him close, ready to shield him with her own body if she has to. No longer cold but as if she's caught in a _blizzard_, the sea creaking as ice overtakes it, Gentiana's to command and hers alone.

_Begone, Tidemother! _ She says again, and flings her hand out, fingers unfurling all at once, accusation and damnation as she hurls her might against a fellow Astral and in this there is no fair fight. Water bends to her will now as it has before and always will, catching Leviathan in her snare and splintering through her, vicious spike after vicious spike, spraying her blood, the asps she sent after Luna. _Begone! _And Leviathan rages, _oh _how she rages, thrashing and snarling and the sea tries to answer, rising up and falling back and freezing over as Gentiana stomps her foot. _Begone!_

She falls. She doesn't submit, seething and vicious and Luna trembles as that ancient awareness sweeps over her one last time, but she cannot take hold, cannot best Gentiana. Gentiana, who snaps her fingers just once, and Leviathan... _shatters_ into pieces, hundreds and thousands of them, glittering shards of ice and blood and gore exploding in one massive cloud, falling to the sea and scattering across its frozen surface. Vanishing to the depths below when Gentiana finally lowers her hand and slowly turns to face Luna, a smile on her painted lips, and her eyes are open and gleaming, like sun on fresh snow. It's over. _It's over_.

_Come, child. I will carry Noctis._

So Luna leads the way back the way they'd come, stopping only to shake Ardyn awake when she reaches him, help him to his feet and steady him when he stumbles, words trapped between the common tongue and those long forgotten. And Gentiana, slight woman that she is, spectre of Shiva and embodiment of an Astral's power, carries Noctis as one might a child, unharmed by the Scourge black and pulsing through his veins.


End file.
